From the Lab

Well, Larry Ellison and the gang made that look easy. Oracle Corp. this afternoon reported a big gain in profits and revenue for the first quarter ended in August, easily topping estimates by Wall Street analysts.

I'll report the numbers when they're available after Thursday's trading bell, but the early word from analysts is that Oracle Corp. will turn in impressive first-quarter results.

We'll see if this actually happens -- and I'm not convinced it will, for reasons I'll get into below -- but according to an article in GigaOM, carrier T-Mobile USA intends to implement a toll on businesses of up to one cent per text message sent to their customers. The "Twitter tax" is slated to begin on Oct. 1, writes GigaOM's Colin Gibbs.

Let me just start by acknowledging that public corporations clearly have a responsibility to their shareholders. No argument there; it's right in any corporation's charter. I get it.